Celebrating Creation-Forming Faithful Stewards

Join Us in Celebrating the Sanctity of all Creation on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22nd!!

Forming Faithful Stewards with Blue Water Congregations

St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, Faith Presbyterian Church and St. Pius X - - all part of our first cohort of Blue Water Congregations on the Community Visioning track - - have much to celebrate this Earth Day. Large projects on their church grounds are being planned such as hardscape removal, biorentention fields, reforestation and conservation landscaping. They are currently progressing through the design and permitting phases, with guidance and assistance from Blue Water Baltimore, our partner in this program.

Congratulations also to our friends at Church of the Redeemer and Kadampa Meditation Center for receiving grants from the Chesapeake Bay Trust to install rain gardens on their grounds! It was a competitive pool of applicants and we're thrilled that they have secured the funding they need to make their dreams a reality! Lay leaders at these congregations found success in the grant writing process in part thanks to technical support they received from Blue Water Baltimore and Maryland Sea Grant through this program. Dozens of other congregations are making improvements through the Facilitated Action track of this program as well.

By demonstrating ways to live in harmony with their watershed, these congregations will inspire and educate hundreds of people who attend their churches or pass by their grounds. This will all add up to cleaner streams and tributaries in our watershed, and cleaner water for all future generations. YOUR congregation can be next!!! Join us at our Walk the Talk Event to learn how (see below for details).

Walk the Talk in Baltimore - April 26th 3-5 pm at the Cathedral of the Incarnation

The stormwater fee is not going away in Baltimore. So how about coming to learn more about it, how to reduce your congregation's stormwater footprint, and how to turn your place of worship into an example of living in harmony with Creation! Join us for a free informational meeting about the Blue Water Congregations program co-hosted by Blue Water Baltimore. Click HERE for details and to register for the event. Click HERE for a flyer to download and share with others who might be interested.

Our Keynote Speaker is Rev. Dr. Angela Shepherd of the Episcopal Diocese of Baltimore. Presentations by Mark Cameron, City of Baltimore Dept. of Public Works; Ashley Traut of Blue Water Baltimore and a panel discussion featuring Blue Water Congregation participants:

John Campagna from Church of the Redeemer

Bernadine Coates from The Episcopal Church of the Holy CovenantRosemary Flickinger from Kadampa Meditation Center

Click HERE to learn more about the Blue Water Congregations program. This unique program offers technical and grant-writing support to assist congregations in Baltimore to manage their polluted runoff (and even reduce their stormwater utility fee!). Come to this informational meeting on Sunday April 26th to learn more about the program, and how to enroll. Don’t miss this opportunity to enroll in this program that has already helped dozens of congregations plan out projects for their grounds. Funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Federation.

Advocacy Update

Did Creation have a voice in Annapolis in 2015? You betcha! From a ban on microbeads to a strengthening of the stormwater bill, measures to protect natural resources for generations to come were successfully passed. A detailed summary of the bills IPC was tracking and their outcomes this session can be found on our Advocacy Page HERE. The cliff notes are below:

Stormwater - Hopefully this is the last year we will be talking about this, especially because we are so pleased with where this ended up. The amended bill allows for more flexibility to counties to assess fees (or not) as they see fit, and ups the accountability factor to make sure they have funds set aside to do the projects they’re required to do. Both sides of the aisle overwhelmingly supported this bill.

Microbeads - Yep - those insignificant little plastic beads in toothpaste and cleansers wreak havoc on our natural ecosystem and accumulate toxins endangering fish (and us, higher up on the food chain) who mistakenly eat the plastic beads. Well, such products will no longer be allowed in Maryland in a few years. And, hooray for Maryland, because this microbeads ban is the strongest in the country!

Fracking - While some were disappointed that the moratorium was not longer, a 2.5-year extension to further evaluate the potential risks of fracking felt like a good idea for many and passed both houses.

While the pollinators bill and bag bill did not pass, many organizations made huge strides in educating legislators about these issues, laying the groundwork for more progress next session.

Thank you to all who wrote letters, called their representatives, attended rallies or testified at the statehouse. Click HERE to see quick highlights of the Clean Water Rally. You might feel like you weren't heard, but you were! Thank you for speaking out for Creation for generations to come!

Covenantal Partners Program

We heard you: You want your congregation to think bigger - do more - you want something to show for your hard work in the end - but you don’t know how to get rolling. Here’s our answer - the Covenantal Partners Program. In this program your congregation receives:

free strategic planning for your green committee, your vestry, whoever needs to be at the table

April 28th - Kolya presents a Spiritual & Environmental Workshop at West River United Methodist Retreat Center’s Day Apart

May 18th - Jodi presenting to Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church in Passadena on ways the faith community can engage in watershed protection

We’re on Facebook

Many of you asked, so now we have answered! You can find us on Facebook! Connect with us and help us inspire more people! Any volunteers willing to help us keep our page active? Please email Bonnie@interfaithchesapeake.org.